Aeta

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Cultural Center of the Philippines
 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
PHILIPPINE ART
Aeta
Map
https://epa.culturalcenter.gov.ph/1/2/2327/ 1/37
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Shaded portion shows where the group is found and what provinces and towns they occupy.
Introduction
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The word “Aeta” means “people,” though some believe that it was derived from the Malay hitam, meaning “black,”
or from its cognate in Philippine languages, itom or itim. Early ethnographic accounts on the Aeta, also known as
Ayta, Alta, Atta, Ita, and Ati (Blumentritt [1882] 1980; Worcester 1898; Bean 1910; Barrows 1910) referred to them as
Negritos or Negrillos, that is, “little blacks,” primarily due to their skin color (Blumentritt [1882] 1980; Worcester
1898; Bean 1910; Barrows 1910). Aside from being dark-skinned, the Aeta are short, with an average height of 1.35 to
1.5 meters, small of frame, kinky-haired, and snub-nosed, with big black eyes. They are believed to have been the
first settlers or aborigines of the Philippines, driven away to the mountains and hinterlands by later migrants
(Virchow 1899; Kroeber 1919; Krieger 1942; Beyer and de Veyra 1952).
Although the term “Negrito” is considered to be insensitive and prejudicial, there is still no other inclusive term to
address this diverse group of peoples that populate the Philippine archipelago from north to south. Hence, the
phrase Philippine Negrito groups remains the most suitable appellation when referring to the Agta and Atta in
northeastern Luzon; the Aeta, Ayta, Alta, and Arta in Central Luzon; the Ati or Ata in Panay and Negros; the Batak
in Palawan; and the Iraya Mangyan in Mindoro. Also included are the Ati, who have been classified with the
Sibuyan Mangyan; the Remontado of Rizal province; and the Remontado of Sibuyan Island in Romblon province.
In Bulacan, they are also called Remontado or Ita; in Pampanga, Baluga; in Zambales, Ita, Ta’un Pangolo, and
Mangayan; in Tarlac, Kulaman, Baluga, Sambal, and Aburlan; and in Panay, Ita, Ati, Aata, or Agta. Other names
in Cagayan province for Aeta are Kofun, Diango, Paranan, Assao, Ugsing, and Aita. “Dumagat” (seafaring people)
is the term used by outsiders for the Agta or Aeta of Bulacan, Tanay, and Quezon. In Mindanao, in the northeastern
provinces of Surigao and Agusan, they are called Mamanwa. The term mamanua means “first forest dwellers,”
derived from man (first) and banwa (forest). But the Mamanwa have also been pejoratively called Kongking, from
the Spanish word conquista, which means “conquered” (Padilla 2013, 210).
The Aeta have different names, depending on their history, their geographical and social situation, and their
relationship with their neighbors. Various Aeta groups have been differentiated in curious ways. An Aeta group
may resent a name designated by non-Aeta groups or neighbors, especially when they consider the given names
deprecating. Because the majority of Filipinos look down on them for their dark color, some groups resent being
called Ita. In Central Luzon, the Aeta are sometimes referred to as Baluga, which means “hybrid.” Other Aeta
groups consider this insulting because it also means “brackish, half-salt, and half-fresh.” While the Aeta of
northern Luzon are collectively called Aeta or Agta, one subgroup, the Ebuked —coined from the Filipino
word bukid (field)—live away from the lowlanders. The Agta consider the Ebuked backward, if not primitive.
Another group in northern Luzon is known as Pugut, a name designated by their Ilocano-speaking neighbors
which is the colloquial term for anyone with dark skin. In Ilocano, the word also means “goblin” or “forest spirit.”
The Aeta of Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur are known locally as Abiyan, which is derived from abe, meaning
“companion” or “friend.” The term reflects how the group used to work for landed Christian families during the
Spanish period. The Abiyan are also called Bihug, from kabihug or “companion in the meal.” In Quezon province,
the Aeta, whose work includes the clearing of coconut plantations and various odd jobs in exchange for meals and
pieces of cloth, are also referred to as Abiyan. Other names used in Quezon are Umag, Ata, Atid, and Itim.
The Aeta population today consists of around 30 different ethnolinguistic groups. The total Aeta population is
about 117,782, which is one percent of the total population of indigenous peoples in the Philippines (NCIP, cited in
Miclat-Teves 2004, 2-3). The Agta of Northeastern Luzon numbered 10,503 in 2010; the Pinatubo Aeta, 56,265 in
1997; the Mamanwa, 54,394 in 2005; and the Ati, 9,258, scattered throughout the Visayas in Iloilo, Capiz, Antique,
Aklan, Guimaras, and Boracay Island, and in small groups in Negros Island, Bohol, and Cebu in 2004 (Minter 2010;
Miclat-Teves 2004; Amnesty International 2009; de la Peña 2014).
Maps and ethnographic studies from the 19th to the early 20th century reveal that the distribution of the Philippine
Negrito groups has remained the same, despite profound sociopolitical and economic transformations, great
geological upheavals, and disturbing environmental changes in the past two centuries. They still inhabit Western
Cagayan, Northern Sierra Madre, Southern Sierra Madre, Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, the Island Group, and
Mindanao (Padilla 2013).
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Some 30 spoken Negrito languages have been recorded, attesting to the diversity of the Aeta group. However,
only 17 of these are currently being used—namely, Abelling, Abiyan, Aeta or Ayta, Aggay, Agta, Atta (aka Ata or
Ati), Batak (aka Binatak), Cimaron, Dumagat (aka Umiray), Iraya, Isarog, Kabihug, Mamanwa, Manobo or Ata-
Manobo, Negrito, Remontado, and Tabangnon (NSO 2000, as cited in Padilla 2013, 209, 220). Many Aeta have
adopted the language of the lowlanders with whom they have come in contact.
History
The origin of the Aeta continues to confound anthropologists and archaeologists. One theory suggests that the
Aeta are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the Philippines who arrived through land bridges that
linked the country to the Asian mainland some 30,000 years ago. These migrations may have occurred when the
Malay peninsula was still connected to Sumatra and the rest of Sunda Islands. At that time, the islands of what is
now the Philippines may have still been connected, making the dispersal of the Aeta throughout what is now an
archipelago probable.
According to genetic data, the Aeta are more closely related to the Asia-Pacific groups than to the African group
(Omoto 1985, 129-30). The Mamanwa, though, allegedly have some genetic material that is not in the other Aeta
groups. They have the same genetic origin as that of the aborigines of Australia and New Guinea, descendants of
Africans migrating through a southern route. The Aeta have been described as an Australoid people whose small
size has “increased survival value in a mountainous tropical environment with poor nutritional resources”
(Bellwood 1978, 26-27). The Australian aborigines’ arrival at the continent was about 45,000 years ago. Ostensibly,
the groups split and the Mamanwa broke away from the common origin about 36,000 years ago. The Mamanwa,
therefore, may be the oldest group in the Philippines (Stoneking 2008; Figueroa 2013).
Depiction of the Negritos, circa 1590 (Boxer Codex, The

Lilly Library Digital Collections)
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The earliest chronicle on the Aeta was in 1225 by Chau Ju-Kua who called them Hai-tan. They were described as
people who rest on treetops and shoot arrows at passersby; have short and curly hair; and jump and shout with
glee when objects like porcelain bowls are thrown their way (Hirth and Rockhill 1970, 161). In the 16th century,
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi reported that “in some of these islands, the mountain regions are inhabited by blacks,
with whom as a general rule, the Indians are at war, and whom the latter capture and sell, and also employ as
slaves” (Blumentritt [1882] 1980, 13). In 1663, Colin wrote that the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines were black
mountaineers, a notion picked up by many writers, including Blumentritt, during the 18th and 19th century.
Artifacts found in areas where the Aeta lived indicate that in prehistoric times, the Aeta resided in the lowlands but
gradually retreated into the hills and mountains when subsequent immigrants and conquerors like the Spaniards
pushed them into the forests. Ethnobotanical studies, for example, reveal that the Zambales Aeta used to live in
the lowlands, coastlines, and riverbanks, and they were not really descendants of forest dwellers (Fox 1952).
The Aeta have generally shown resistance to change. The attempts of the Spaniards to settle them in reservations
all throughout Spanish rule failed. During the early American colonization of the Philippines, the political structure
of the Aeta was not disturbed, except when neighboring lowlanders organized artificial government structures
headed by a capitan (barangay captain), consejal (city councilor), or policia (the police) (Noval-Morales and
Monan, 1979, 1231).
By the first decade of the 20th century, America had become a world power with its acquisition of new colonies,
including the Philippines. To promote itself as an international power purportedly supporting intercultural
understanding, the United States organized the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair in Missouri. The world fair was the
biggest undertaking of its kind at the time. The Filipino reservation, which contained 100 structures within 47
acres, cost two million US dollars. The reservation housed 1,100 exotic peoples from the Philippines. Among the
ethnic delegations were 38 Negritos and Mangyans. The Negritos were supposed to represent the most
uncivilized of the Filipino peoples (Vergara 1995).
The Pinatubo Aeta living within the perimeter of the former US bases in Zambales and Pampanga were just about
the only group which became open to relations with the Americans. After World War II, General Douglas
MacArthur thanked them for helping US Air Force men during the war. They were allowed to enter the bases
perimeter and engage in scavenging. They were also employed as instructors of jungle survival techniques by the
special operations forces of the American troops (Shimizu 1989). In 1991, Mount Pinatubo erupted, and the
Americans abandoned the bases. This volcanic eruption, one of the biggest natural calamities of the 20th century,
buried Aeta ancestral lands in ashfall and lahar for over a decade. The Pinatubo Aeta, whose population then
numbered over 50,000, had the biggest number of casualties (Bautista 1996, 153).
In the 1930s, the Aeta of northeastern Luzon rejected efforts to introduce farming into their culture. But when
change was really necessary, they adjusted to social, economic, cultural, and political pressures with remarkable
resilience, creating systems and structures within their culture to cushion its sudden impact. Since the second half
of the 20th century, however, the Aeta have been declining in number. Their very existence has been threatened by
environmental disasters and sociopolitical and economic policies inimical to their welfare.
Before World War II, American colonial and economic policies pursued the large-scale exploitation of the
country’s natural resources through commercial logging and mining. Even after the declaration of Philippine
independence, such extractive industries continued. Under the Marcos regime, mining claims of big companies
multiplied, backed by a pro-mining presidential decree. Deforestation escalated, with timber licensing
agreements granted to foreign companies and Marcos loyalists. Even administrations after the 1986 EDSA Revolt
continued to support logging and mining (Pamintuan 2011).
In 1986, the Mamanwa were forced to live in the lowlands to pave the way for nickel mining operations. Most of
Mamanwa traditional lands are also sites of rich mining deposits. Claver in Surigao del Norte, for example, has the
largest iron deposit in Asia. Displaced from the forests that supported their traditional way of living, the
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Mamanwa suffered in the resettlement sites. Moreover, the mining operations silted the rivers and polluted the
natural environment. The continued entry of mining companies in the 1970s and 1980s in the Surigao provinces
reversed the Mamanwa’s pristine way of life (Amnesty International 2009; Tomaquin 2012, 87).
On the eastern side of the Sierra Madre mountain range, legal and illegal logging depleted the forests that
supported the Agta’s hunting and gathering traditions. The flora and fauna needed for Aeta survival were no
longer available due to forest depletion. The Agta experienced the first signs of climate change between
November and December 2004, when continuous tropical depressions and typhoons triggered catastrophic flash
floods and mudflows that killed hundreds of Agta in Quezon province (Gaillard et al. 2007).
The government has been making efforts to help solve deforestation through social forestry strategies like the
Integrated Forest Management Agreements and Community-Based Forest Management Agreements (CBFMA).
Nagpana in Panay Island is a forest reservation declared in 1986 as exclusively for the Ati. It is managed by the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Under the community forestry agreement, the Ati
may live in the forest but may not use forest resources for charcoal making nor the land for kaingin (swidden
farming). Thus, in order to survive, the Ati have resorted to selling herbal remedies to neighboring island provinces
such as Samar, Leyte, Cebu, and Negros. This has led to the formation of Ati settlements in other provinces such as
in Naga, Cebu, and in Janiuay, Iloilo (de la Peña 2014, 4, 5).
The Batak of Kalakuasan in Palawan also signed a CBFMA with the DENR in 1998 which covers 3,458.70 hectares
of forests in Barangay Tanabag. But the Batak consider the agreement unsatisfactory because the agreement is
only for 25 years, renewable only if the Batak are able to fulfill unrealistic requirements. Aside from the fact that
the CBFMA does not give them any security of tenure, the Batak are also dissatisfied with their position as
subsidiaries of the DENR (Novellino 2008, 11).
Aside from the problems of deforestation, issues of expulsion, relocation, serfdom, and mendicancy have plagued
the Aeta. The protracted armed conflict in the rural areas between the government and insurgent New People’s
Army (NPA) has affected the Philippine Negritos, whose forest habitats are also the operating areas of battling
forces (Padilla 2013, 221). In the 1980s, 400 Mamanwa families in Taganito, Surigao del Norte were forcefully
ejected from their ancestral lands by military forces who accused the Mamanwa of being either members or
supporters of the NPA. Their harassment and evacuation continue, with high incidence of families becoming
internal refugees.
Poverty-stricken lowlanders seeking food have also encroached on their forestlands, displacing Aeta peoples from
their natural territories. The Madia-as mountain range, which spans the boundary of Antique and Iloilo, had been
the Panay Ati’s ancient homeland and foraging grounds. In the 1950s, when its forest became depleted, they
practiced swidden farming and earned income from selling medicinal plants and working as laborers. With Ati
ancestral lands lying fallow in between planting seasons, some Visayans took the opportunity to apply for
government land titles for these ancestral lands and occupied them. The more assertive among the Ati attempted
to reclaim their ancient lands but failed when they could not show legal ownership (De la Peña 2014, 4, 5).
In Negros, the Ati have become agricultural laborers or tenants working in ancestral lands that were formerly their
own. Lowlanders hire their services to plow fields, gather coconuts, or cut bamboo for fish traps. Women are hired
to weed fields or serve as maids for Christian families. In Iloilo, a few have resorted to begging in the streets. It is
not surprising then that some Aeta, notably among the Dumagat, turn to drink. Alcoholism, previously unknown in
Dumagat culture, was probably introduced by lowlanders and reinforced by unscrupulous merchants who supply
alcoholic beverages often as payment for Aeta labor. The problem of intoxication even among the women has
become a social problem (Vanoverbergh 1937, 924; Headland 1975, 249-50).
The Indigenous People’s Right Act of 1997 (IPRA) is the legal instrument for Aeta groups to get formal recognition
of their ancient territories and waters by virtue of a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT). Through a tedious
bureaucratic process, some groups among the Pinatubo Aeta, the Agta/Dumagat, the Ati, and the Mamanwa have
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been able to successfully acquire land titles over ancient territories. In 2006, for example, 400 Mamanwa families
acquired a CADT over 48,870 hectares that encompass five towns in Surigao del Norte, including a portion of
Agusan del Norte (Catoto 2013).
However, formal ownership of ancestral lands does not guarantee the reversal of the myriad of problems that
plague the indigenous peoples. The IPRA did empower the Mamanwa to negotiate for a one-percent royalty of the
gross production of mining companies operating in their lands, but the new wealth from such negotiations,
amounting to millions of pesos, has caused conflict among Mamanwa leaders (Arguillas 2009). In Quezon
province, mere possession of a CADT covering 164,000 hectares has not protected the Agta/Dumagat ancestral
lands from illegal logging and the building of a big hydro dam that will eventually submerge their forests, villages,
and sacred grounds (Calzado 2013).
In recent history, there have been modern-day leaders who championed the economic, political, and cultural rights
of the group. In 2009, Napoleon Buendicho, a leader among the Agta/Dumagat of Quezon, was at the forefront of
multisectoral protests against the Laiban Dam. Buendicho was the Tribal Council Governor of the Agta/Dumagat
and Remontado of Quezon Province who led his fellow Agta to protest the construction of the dam that will
inundate at least nine barangays in Tanay, Rizal and General Nakar, Quezon, rendering some 5,000 Agta
homeless and destroying over 27,800 hectares of ancestral lands (Aurelio 2009). In the tourist island of Boracay,
30 Ati families led by Dexter Condez received their CADT in 2013. The CADT covers 2.1 hectares in Barangay
Manoc-Manoc, Boracay. Their claim, though, has been negated by private investors and by other land claimants.
Condez was assassinated in February 2013, followed by the destruction of the perimeter fences that were built to
secure the Ati ancestral property. The national government had to designate police authorities to ensure the safety
of the Ati and local officials implementing the CADT (Ranada 2014). Though the National Commission for
Indigenous Peoples has affirmed the Ati’s land title by issuing a writ of execution, the Ati and the civilian
authorities in the island continue to receive grave threats because of the CADT.
Economy
Hunting and food-gathering have always been part of the traditional Aeta economy (Vanoverbergh 1937; Garvan
1964; Estiko-Griffin and Griffin 1985, 1981; Peterson 1978; Rai 1982; Brosius 1983). In the 1880s, the Aeta were
wandering hunters and fishermen and did not practice agriculture, except those in Tarlac who knew how to plant
rice. They used bows and arrows for catching fish, and domesticated dogs to hunt for food such as snakes, frogs,
or anything edible that could crawl, fly, or swim. Women gathered wild fruits, vegetables, and honey. Beeswax
was bartered with the Chinese and the Christian Filipinos for arrowheads, tobacco, and betel. The Aeta used three
different kinds of arrows for birds, wild pig, and larger game. These arrows were tipped with poison obtained
from roots and herbs and were carried in a bamboo quiver (Blumentritt [1882] 1980; Pedro Cubero Sebastian 1971;
de la Gironiere 1972). A favorite hunting technique by the Ebuked Agta during the dry season is to hunt at night
using a flashlight fastened to the hand with a strong rubber band. The beam of light reflects the eyes of the animal
spotted. The light is then lowered so as to guide one’s steps while creeping near the target. Then it is raised once
more and directed at the animal as the arrow is released.
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Group of Aeta deer and hog hunters, 20th century (Mario Feir Filipiniana Library)
The Mamanwa use a variety of traps and hunting methods. Hunting intensifies during the rainy season, from
November to April. In the forests, the Mamanwa set up the bayatik (spear traps) and the gahong (pit traps) for
animals like deer, pigs, monitor lizards, iguanas, monkeys, and large birds (Maceda 1964, 38-46).
Various fishing techniques have been observed. The Aeta of Antique in Panay practice both freshwater and sea
fishing. All members of the community catch gobies, shrimps, and crabs with bare hands. Children, with the help
of adults, build watertight dams that bend the flow of a tributary back to the main river. When water recedes, fish,
eel, and shellfish are collected from the riverbed with bare hands (Vanoverbergh 1937, 924; Garvan 1964, 74-75;
Headland 1975, 250; Rahmann and Maceda 1958). The Pinatubo Aeta use more “modern” techniques. They fish
with a metal rod fired from a rubber band while swimming. Meanwhile, destructive fishing techniques have been
noted among the Ati of northern Negros, who hurl explosive bottles of lime into the water.
Honey-gathering is an important livelihood activity of various Aeta groups. Honey is a delicacy among the
Pinatubo Aeta and the Ebuked Agta. The Pinatubo Aeta also eat the umok (young bees) and the lata (pollen)
found in hives. Pamumuay (harvesting honey) was a major activity of the Aeta Magbukun of Mariveles, Bataan
until the 2010s. In this activity, Aeta fathers or elder brothers go to the forest for a week, carrying a luwak
(backpack) to harvest honey. Boys skip school during the peak season of pamumuay to go with them to learn the
skill of climbing tall trees needed for harvesting. Women are in charge of putting the honey in recycled liquor
bottles and peddling them at the market (Balilla et al. 2012, 6). During tag-pulot (honey season), which begins in
mid-December and lasts until May, a typical Aeta Magbukun family may harvest 3.4 to 7 liters a week. Tag-pulot is
a prosperous time for them—with earnings of about 3,000 pesos a week, they have ample food and money to pay
their debts.
A major economic activity among the Dumagat is rattan gathering, undertaken mainly by males. They gather daily
without any regular work schedule. The work cycle entails getting rattan stems from the forest, cleaning and
scraping them, and splitting them into long, narrow pieces. The Dumagat deliver the rattan to the merchants by
the thousands. These merchants, who live in the lowlands, pay the Dumagat a basket of goods consisting of sugar,
rice, salt, soap, and betel nut. The Dumagat hardly know the monetary value of their work. Often, their earnings do
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not meet their subsistence requirements. This forces them to incur debts from the merchants at exorbitant interest
rates which the Dumagat cannot afford to pay. The merchants then compel them to gather more rattan to be able
to pay their loans, so the vicious cycle of debt payment never ends.
The Agta are generally described as commercial hunters and gatherers. Commercial gatherers, unlike hunter-
gatherers, have a symbiotic relationship with other people, trading meat, furs, forest products, or labor for
carbohydrate foods. Kaingin was probably only recently introduced into their culture (Garvan 1964, 78; Fox 1952,
175, 247; Warren 1964, 3). It was only in 1975, for instance, that the Casiguran Agta were observed to be practicing
it.
In the early 1960s, agriculture was practiced among the Ati of the Visayas who lived in permanent farming
settlements. In these settlements, the Ati planted corn, wet and dry rice, sweet potato, cassava, bananas, beans,
coconuts, and abaca.
The Ati example of systematic food production is a recent development. Generally, the Aeta have a subsistence
economy, but they are slowly but surely being drawn into the cash economy of the majority of Filipinos. Such a
transition from hunting-gathering may be inevitable because of the rapid disappearance of forest lands, the
intrusion of lowlanders into Aeta ancestral domain, and the lure of income from cash crops. As the Aeta become
more involved in a cash economy, they also become more dependent on agriculture. In exchange for cash, for
example, the Batak of Palawan gather rattan canes, wild honey, and bagtik, a resin from Agathis philippinensis.
Traditionally, bagtik or almaciga are tapped for domestic use as house torches. After World War II, when non-
timber forest products were also commercialized, tapping resin was in demand for the manufacture of high-
quality varnish and paints, linoleum, adhesives, and waterproofing materials. The Batak are experts in sustainable
resin collection, using a method that does not damage the tree, unlike the destructive practice of lowlanders
(Novellino 2008, 17-18).
There are other Aeta sources of income. The Aeta are skillful in weaving and plaiting. Handicraft is produced for
their daily needs, for ornamentation, and for barter with outsiders. Both the Mamanwa and the Agta produce
winnowing baskets, hammocks, armlets, small bags, and mats. The Ati of the Visayas sell handicrafts, barter
beeswax and domesticated animals, and sell medicinal plants and roots to the Visayan lowlanders. Metalwork is
the most skilled trade found among the Pinatubo Aeta. It is predominantly a male undertaking, although women
and children may also help in the production.
The concepts of land ownership and legal titles are fairly new and not fully understood by the Aeta (Maceda 1964;
Brosius 1983; Headland 1993). Some groups such as the Mamanwa of Agusan have acquired land titles through the
help of lowland friends in government agencies. But they tend to sell the land soon after. This is because
traditional Aeta tend to be foragers who proceed on an ecological route for immediate, short-term gains. The Aeta
have often been swindled into selling titles in exchange for clothes, trinkets, and rice, or mortgaging these titles
because of debts.
Legislations such as the 1997 IPRA and the 1995 Executive Order 247 uphold the rights of indigenous peoples, thus
opening opportunities for the empowerment of the Aeta. Philippine laws guarantee benefit sharing, that is, the
sharing of monetary and nonmonetary profits from the use of natural resources and genetic materials inside
ancestral domains with legal titles. For instance, legislation regulates and prescribes benefit sharing on the use of
flora and fauna for scientific and commercial purposes. Through benefit sharing, the Mamanwa are able to collect
a one-percent share from gross revenues of mining companies that they allow to operate in their ancestral
domain. The Pinatubo Aeta also demand revenues from tourism activities conducted in the Pinatubo area. The
Aeta of Zambales and Bataan negotiate with the Subic Freeport management on financial and nonmonetary gains
from the use of their ancestral lands. Such gains are the result of tedious negotiations. Agreements on benefit
sharing are accomplished with support from civil society and government agencies because the Aeta groups need
special assistance in negotiating with businessmen, especially big corporations and foreign investors (Swiderska
et al. 2001, 13; Orejas 2013; SBMA 2011).
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Political System
The political system of the Aeta is largely based on respect for elders who exert control over judicial affairs and
who maintain peace and order within the band. The system is an informal one, a product of significant Aeta traits
such as honesty, frankness, and lack of desire to seek power and influence for self-interest.
The band can be considered a democratic political organization. The main duty of the chieftains, usually the
elders, is to maintain peace and harmony within the band. The accepted rules or laws are those enshrined by
tradition. Among the Agta of Palanan, Isabela, the group of elders known as the pisen decides on important
matters involving the community. In southern Negros, the Ati call this group panunpanun. The oldest member of
the panunpanun serves as its leader. The chief is also expected to be a mananambal (eloquent speaker), a good
counselor, and arbiter.
An Aeta chieftain, center with top hat, and his community in Bataan, early 20th century (Mario Feir Filipiniana
Library)
However, submission to the decisions of the elders or chiefs is still up to the individual. Agta leaders of
northeastern Luzon never impose their decisions on band members and act only in an advisory capacity. They
persuade through exemplary acts.
Lowland Filipinos, however, have disturbed the political structure of the Aeta by requiring them to elect Aeta
officials to take on quasi-legal positions like councilors, barangay captains, and paramilitary officials who function
as links to outside society and not necessarily as tribal leaders. On the other hand, some lowland civic and
religious organizations have helped some Aeta groups consolidate and press for their rights.
The 1997 IPRA is a landmark legislation that upholds and protects the various rights of the indigenous peoples. The
law encourages the revival and strengthening of traditional leadership among the Aeta as well as the
establishment of sectoral organizations in their communities. As CADT holders, the Aeta, through their council of
elders, have the right to approve or disapprove projects or activities within their ancestral domains. For instance,
the Pastolan Aeta has a CADT covering 4,200 hectares, with portions located in the Subic Bay Freeport. As owners
of the ancestral domain, the Aeta, through their council of elders, can enforce the IPRA law, which guarantees their
power over the Subic Base Management Authority, the manager of the area (SBMA 2011; Gonzaga 2011).
Social Organization and Customs
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The Aeta stay in small bands with an average size of 10 families or some 50 individuals descended from a
common ancestor. There is also a distinct lack of social stratification or classes.
The nuclear family is the basic unit of Aeta society, but care is especially extended to widows and widowers.
Relations between husband and wife are cordial, and both seem to share equal rights and responsibilities.
Children are treasured, and there is a strong bond between parents and children. The children, in return, respect
their elders—parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
Batak mother and her two

children, 2014 (Henson
Wongaiham)
Marriage practices have been affected by the culture of lowlanders. In the past, marriages were strictly arranged
by elders. Now, they can be arranged by the couples themselves.
Monogamy is a widespread practice among the Aeta, although polygamy is acceptable in some groups. Exogamy,
the practice of choosing a spouse who belongs to another group, has been observed as a custom among the Agta
and may be true for other groups. Incest is taboo. However, among the Pinatubo Aeta, first cousins are married
after a ritual of “separating the blood.”
Courtship as a custom has been observed among the Dumagat. A boy makes known his affection for a girl by
dropping ilador tibig leaves along the path where she fetches water. If she likes him, she puts bamboo leaves on
the same spots where the leaves were dropped. But if she does not, she places other leaves over the ilador tibig.
The next step is for the boy to serenade the girl in her home. If the girl is the youngest among sisters, the boy must
give a gift in cash or kind, such as a bolo or dress, to the parents.
A young man may marry by age 20 and a young woman by 16. The bandi (bride-price)—usually arrows, bows,
bolo, cloth, homemade shotguns, and money—is mandatory. The family of the boy arranges a marriage by giving
a portion of the bandi to the family of the girl. It may also be paid in the form of services rendered by the boy to
the girl’s family. Succeeding installments may be paid by the boy or by his family after the couple’s marriage.
Among the Pinatubo Aeta, trouble between families may arise due to the failure of the husband’s family to pay the
bandi. Another cause of conflict is elopement with someone not previously contracted.
Each Aeta group has its own peculiar wedding ceremony. Although the kasal (wedding) is celebrated by feasting
and drinking among the Dumagat, it is less important than the sakad, a series of about three formal meetings
between the two kinship groups. Among the Abiyan, a cigarette of grass is rolled up, lighted, and given for the boy
and girl to smoke; after this, the two are declared husband and wife before relatives of both parties. A variation of
this Abiyan wedding is the preparation of a betel mix for the boy and girl to chew.
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After marriage, the girl stays in the boy’s house. However, later studies show a change in the choice of residence.
Newlyweds tend to live where there is available land for cultivation, whether or not the chosen place is near their
parents.
Divorce is rare but can be arranged through mutual consent. Grounds for divorce may be laziness, cruelty, and
unfaithfulness. A council from both kin groups decides on the issue. The guilty spouse loses custody of the
children. If the woman is the guilty party, she must return the bandi. Both parties are free to remarry after divorce.
Intermarriages with lowlanders are viewed by the Aeta groups as acceptable since there is status to be gained
from such unions. These are regarded as a way of lessening the physical differences between the Aeta and
lowlanders. In Negros Island as of 1974, 98 percent of such marriages were between lowland males and Aeta
females, but, according to Warren (1964), the Batak seldom married someone from the Tagbanwa (Warren 1964,
65).
Pregnant women are well protected and cared for in their society. There are restrictions on pregnant woman to
ensure her child’s safety. The Pinatubo Aeta believe that to prevent a difficult childbirth, she should refrain from
stepping on cordage or tying knots. To avoid premature delivery, she must not be present when stored tubers are
dug up. She must not eat twin bananas or any unusually shaped fruit that might cause the development of a freak.
Generally, Aeta women give birth easily and are able to resume work a few hours after delivery. Massaging is a
universal practice. Aeta women of northern and eastern Luzon assume a sitting or kneeling position during
delivery, unless there are great difficulties and lying down is a better position. Anybody is allowed to be present
during the birth of the child. The umbilical cord is cut with the use of a sharp bamboo blade. The baby is wrapped
in a small piece of cloth, placed by the mother’s side, smeared with ashes, then cleaned off with a loincloth. This is
related to the Aeta’s affinity with fire and ashes, which are considered as protection from evil, sickness, or cold.
The umbilical cord and the placenta are symbolically treated in postnatal practices. The umbilical cord may be
burned to ashes and given as medicine in case the child becomes ill. Sometimes it is hung in a package inside the
house or buried under a tree. It may also be hung dry then thrown into a stream to promote the child’s growth.
There are various ways of disposing the placenta, like burying it under the house or in one’s birthplace. Improper
disposal of the placenta is believed to lead to sickness or death (Garvan 1964, 113-14).
As for rites of passage, the Aeta practice male circumcision, wherein the foreskin is cut open, not cut off. The
Dumagat call this type of circumcision bugit. Young males aged 11 to 16 are circumcised, an indication that a boy’s
role is changing and he may soon take a bride. Among the Agta of northeastern Luzon, a boy becomes a man the
moment he has single-handedly hunted or trapped a wild animal. With this feat, his father declares him already a
man who is now permitted to court a girl from another group.
For girls, the onset of menstruation signals their coming of age. The first menstrual cycle signifies that she may be
courted, betrothed, and wed. When a girl in the family has had her first menstruation, the mother gives a red
headband for the girl to wear.
The different Aeta groups have different death and burial practices, but they all share the following features: there
is no permanent coffin; there is a general fear of the spirit of the deceased; there is a belief that bad spirits haunt
the grave site; to secure the dead’s continuing goodwill, mourners leave material objects on or near the grave for
the use of the deceased; and, after the period of mourning, the burial site is abandoned (Garvan 1964).
Religious Beliefs and Practices
There are divergent views on the dominant character of the Aeta religion. Those who believe they are
monotheistic argue that various Aeta tribes believe in a supreme being who rule over lesser spirits or deities. The
Mamanwa believe in Magbabaya while the Pinatubo Aeta worship Apo Namalyari.
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Mamanwa faith healer (Photo by Jimmy A.

Domingo in De la Torre 2005)
According to anthropologist E. Arsenio Manuel, the Agta believe in a supreme being named Gutugutumakkan.
Manuel noted other lesser deities of the Agta: Kedes, the god of hunting; Pawi, the god of the forest; and Sedsed,
the god of the sea.
For the Aeta, there are four manifestations of the “great creator” who rules the world: Tigbalog is the source of life
and action; Lueve takes care of production and growth; Amas moves people to pity, love, unity, and peace of heart;
while Binangewan is responsible for change, sickness, and death. These spirits inhabit the balete tree.
The Aeta are also animists. The Pinatubo Aeta believe in environmental spirits, such as anito and kamana. They
believe that good and evil spirits inhabit the environment such as the spirits of the river, the sea, the sky, the
mountain, the hill, the valley, and other places. The Ati of Negros island call their environmental spirits taglugar or
tagapuyo (from or inhabiting a place). They also believe in spirits of disease and comfort (Noval-Morales and
Monan 1979, 79-80).
Their belief in environmental deities is seen in their respect for nature. They do not cut down trees unless
absolutely necessary. They clear only what they can cultivate. They believe that to waste nature’s resources is to
insult the spirits.
The Tanabag Batak has a concept called kabatakan that encompasses their ancestral land. Batak folklore tells
about how a revered ancestor named Esa, during a hunting expedition, defined and gave names to all the places
in the ancestral areas. The Batak cosmos has seven lukap (layers). Kabatakan is supposed to be part of the middle
layer of the universe (Novellino 2008, 12).
The Agta believe that humans, animals, and even plants have kalidua (souls). Where the soul comes from is not
clear, but all Agta agree that it enters the body during lihe (conception). The integration of the soul and the body
occurs much later, when the baby reaches a certain age. When body and soul are integrated, the soul has the
capacity to travel outside the body. But in natay (death), the soul finally leaves the body to go to the supernatural
world. They believe in an afterlife, which is not like the Christian concept of heaven or hell. For them, the
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supernatural world is ever expanding because the souls of mortals continue to join eternal spirits. The Aeta who
have lived near the lowlanders, though, particularly those along the coastline, have developed an idea of hell,
which they call espidno, from the Spanish word infierno.
No special occasion is needed for the Aeta to pray, although there is a clear link between prayer and economic
activities. The Aeta dance before and after a pig hunt. The night before Aeta women gather shellfish, they perform
a dance which is half an apology to the fish and half a charm to ensure the catch. Similarly, Aeta men perform a
bee dance before and after the expeditions for honey.
There are other dances and rituals, like those that concern illness and disease. The Aeta of Negros perform the
daga or dolot when a person has recovered from an illness. The solondon is resorted to when a father dies of
drowning so that his sons will not meet the same fate. The sakayan is a ceremony to prevent the spread of an
epidemic, like cholera, flu, or dysentery. The luya-luya, done with ginger roots, is a ritual to cure a feverish child.
The anituan among the Pinatubo Aeta is a seance in which a manganito (medium) cures the afflicted from an
illness by communicating with the spirit causing it. The ritual establishes close communication between the mortal
and the supernatural world so that misunderstandings between mortals and spirits may be resolved (Noval-
Morales and Monan 1979, 77-88).
The male babalian is the shaman among the Tanabag Batak. He has the ability to connect with the spirit world
and to forecast future events. He has paranormal skills to heal the sick and to conduct rituals that correct any
cosmic imbalance. However, shamans nowadays admit that there are new conditions that challenge their
capacities. Weather disturbances due to climate change are forcing the Tanabag Batak to break their traditional
practices and resort to unsound use of resources in order to survive. This affects their good relationship with the
spirit custodians of their flora and fauna. Their shamans believe that the commercialization of wild pig meat and
honey has angered nature spirits, upsetting the stability of their society and disturbing the ecological balance of
their environment (Novellino 2008, 34-35).
Architecture and Community Planning
The Aeta have an eye for good forest localities ideal for housing and encampments. Such places may sometimes
be near a stream, on a slope of a hill or, during the rainy season, in the lee of a hill protected from rain and wind.
The central space of communities is cleared and left about 10 to 30 meters wide open.
Each family selects a spot under a large tree where the houses are built, forming a circle around the central
clearing, which is used for dancing, socializing, and other activities. The Agta of Ragay, Camarines Sur arrange
their dwellings around a 12-meter circular clearing in the forest, each hut under a tree and facing inward (Garvan
1964).
In Mindanao, the Mamanwa settlements around the Lake Mainit area in Surigao del Norte are either circular or
quadrangular, with an open space at the center used for festivities and rituals. The Mamanwa transfer site when
the area seems to breed diseases, as indicated by the abundance of flies or when the area no longer yields
enough food for the band (Maceda 1964).
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Aeta hut in Morong, Bataan, 2017 (Nico Anastacio)
The pinanahang or lean-to is the traditional dwelling of the Aeta. The lean-to of the Agta of Palanan is described
as a screen against wind, sun, and rain, and built with strong but light branches and palm fronds. Constructed
along the principle of a tripod, it is an architectural wonder because its seemingly fragile structure can withstand
storm and wind. The pinanahang is a temporary shelter built next to streams, coastlines, or riverbanks during the
dry months. This shelter is readily moved to higher areas, with the floor elevated to knee-high level during the
rainy season, to serve as protection against wetness and humidity, and to allow for better air ventilation (Dacanay
1988).
The Casiguran Dumagat live temporarily in lean-tos described as low, unwalled sheds that have floor spaces of
more than 4.5 square meters. The Ebuked Agta of northeastern Luzon build more spacious and elaborate lean-tos
than the downriver Agta. For the sleeping areas, protruding rocks are removed, the earth is leveled, and leaves are
placed under mats to serve as cushion (Dacanay 1988).
The Mamanwa of Mindanao build bigger versions of the lean-to, which they use as communal houses. These
houses are built by joining together windscreens to form an A-like tent, in which the center is left vacant for ritual
dancing and other social activities. The Mamanwa’s simple windscreen, which functions as a single-family house,
uses materials such as wild banana, coconut fronds, grass, and bamboo for flooring. Rattan is used to secure the
house together.
The dait-dait is the windscreen used by the Mamanwa when hunting. It has no platform and the Mamanwa use
leaves and small branches for a bed. When they stay longer in a place, they modify the basic structure and build a
platform. This type of windscreen is also built by the Pinatubo and Panay Aeta (Maceda 1964). A typical hawong
(lean-to) of the Pinatubo Aeta has no living platform and is usually constructed in the fashion of a “pup tent,” a
single ridgepole supported by forked limbs forming two sloping sides with one or both ends open (Fox 1952).
The lean-to is considered quite representative of the Aeta, a living symbol of their lifestyle. It is still very popular
among Aeta groups, although the acculturated Aeta of Pampanga and Zambales have started building more
permanent homes like the stilt houses with structures raised above the ground on wooden posts with thatched
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roof and walls.
Similarly, the houses of the Casiguran Dumagat have been affected by their transformation from hunters-gatherers
to sedentary agriculturists. Many of the Casiguran Dumagat now live in low-walled houses which resemble those
of lowlanders. The floor space of these dwellings range from 2.5 to 9.3 square meters, compared to the traditional
lean-to size of less than 2.3 square meters. They use materials such as cogon, coconut fronds for roofing, grass,
bark, unplaned lumber for walls, and flat wood for flooring. The houses are elevated from the ground and contain
one or two rooms (Dacanay 1988).
Visual Arts
The most common form of Aeta visual art is the etching found on their daily tools and implements. This is done on
the outer surfaces of various household containers, utensils, and ornaments. Bamboo combs are decorated with
incised angular patterns. Geometric designs are etched on arrow shafts.
They are also skillful in weaving and plaiting. The Mamanwa, like other Aeta groups, produce excellent nego
(winnowing baskets), duyan (rattan hammocks), and other household containers (Noval-Morales and Monan 1979,
29-31). The northern Luzon Aeta’s weave is distinct from those of the Ilocano, Cagayano, or Isneg, with their
baskets always in a double weave, as opposed to the others’ single weave. These Aeta’s weaving is either twilled,
with strips woven two by two at the bottom and one by one at the sides; checker close, with strips of the warp
woven two by two and of the weft one by one at the sides; or open worked, with strips woven two by two at the
bottom. Their method of basketmaking is also very different: they always use an old basket as the mold for a new
one. Contemporary baskets woven by the Aeta of northern Luzon are still double-walled and made mainly
of banban approximately 2 millimeters in width, woven using a simple one-over-one construction. Double-walling
means the skin of the banban used for the interior is done in a plain weave, resulting in a smooth surface, while
the exterior, which also shows the skin of the banban, is woven, entirely or in parts, with fine nito strips. Sizes vary,
from bowls measuring about 18-20 centimeters in diameter to large burden baskets, which may be borne on the
back. The baskets rise from a square-footed base to a round mouth. There is usually a heavy rim bound with rattan
or nitovine lacing the basket’s mouth (Lane 1986, 92-94).
Mamanwa man carrying tampiki or rattan

basket in Kitcharao, Agusan del Norte (Photo
by Jimmy A. Domingo in De la Torre 2005)
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A market basket with handle produced by the Zambales Aeta during the 1970s is made of smoked and natural
bamboo. There is fine detail in the finishing braid around the rim, and the weaving of black and natural bamboo is
symmetrically designed. The split rattan handle extends to the bottom of the basket to ensure sturdiness. It has a
braided collar and wrapped handle for artistic embellishments (Lane 1986, 97). Women exclusively weave
winnowing baskets and mats; only men make armlets. Raincoats made of palm leaves are also produced, their
bases surrounding the neck of the wearer, and their topmost part spreading like a fan around the body, except in
front at the height of the waistline.
The Agta of northern Luzon very often carve the shaft of their bows, which is then colored by soot to produce a
black-and-white design. The method of northern Luzon Agta is to first scrape with a bolo the surface of the
patches that have to be colored black. The surface of the shaft is then smeared with beeswax, which adheres to
the scraped surface but is easily removed from the smooth part between them. Then the beeswax is covered with
soot to make the carved surfaces black. This crude carving sometimes covers one third or one half of the space
between the feathers and the arrowhead. Sometimes it covers only the part where the feathers will be attached.
Their traditional clothing is very simple. Wraparound skirts are worn by young women. Elder women wear bark
cloth, and the elder men wear loincloths. The old women of the Agta wear a bark-cloth strip that passes between
the legs and is attached to a string around the waist. Today most Aeta who have been in contact with lowlanders
have adopted the shirts, pants, and rubber sandals commonly used by the latter. Among the Pinatubo Aeta, the
anitu or shaman use a red cotton G-string when performing ritual dances.
The Batak make bark cloths from the bark of various plant species like namuan (Artocarpus sericicarpus), inbalud
(Ficus sp.), dila ,and salugen (Antiaris toxicaria). Due to the influence of lowland culture, bark clothes are now
outmoded, worn only during rituals by the elders (Novellino 2014).
A traditional form of visual art is body scarification, as observed among the Aeta of Quezon, eastern Bulacan,
Rizal, and Camarines. The Aeta inflict wounds that are arranged symmetrically on the back, arms, breast, legs,
hands, calves, and abdomen, and then irritate the wounds as they heal to form scars, using fire, lime, and other
means.
A scar on the right side of the body has a corresponding counterpart on the left. If the right one is horizontal, so is
the one on the left. If oblique, the scars on the other side run in different directions. There is no definite rule as to
the number of scars on any given part of the body. The Camarines Norte Aeta have elaborate scars, including a
betrothal scar placed on the upper arms or upper thighs. Although body scarification is widely practiced,
anthropologists believe it must have been derived from some other culture (Garvan 1964, 48-49).
Other “decorative disfigurements” include the chipping of the teeth. With the use of a file, the Dumagat mutilate
their teeth during late puberty. The purpose is to saw and flatten to the gums the top six incisors and canines. The
teeth are dyed black for a few years afterwards. The Aeta voluntarily practice such disfigurements more for
aesthetic than religious or spiritual reasons. In Camarines and Quezon, they bore a hole through the septum of the
nose, which is later decorated by a sliver of bamboo (Garvan 1964, 47-48).
The Aeta generally use ornaments typical of peoples living in subsistence economies. Flowers and leaves are used
as earplugs, usually for special occasions, and discarded when the need lapses. Girdles, necklaces, and neckbands
of braided rattan are worn frequently, often incorporated with wild pig bristles.
The women wear necklaces of threaded seeds (Croix lachryma) where glass or stone beads are not available. The
seeds may be black, white, or brown, or a mixture of any of the three colors to provide exciting contrasts.
Ornamentation may also have a survival function. Dried wild berries are threaded together, hung about the neck,
and may be eaten if no meal is available.
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The Agta of Palanan use perishable ornaments like flowers and leaves for earplugs, a cloth band swathed over the
head and under the jaw, and braided rattan anklets. Palanan Agta men and women wear the subeng, shell-faced
earplugs incised with designs (Peralta 1977, 534-38).
Among the Aeta of Zambales, a plant known as bejuco (Calamus siphonospathus) is woven as ayabun (anklet)
used by the men as a skintight bracelet or necklace. The anklet is interwoven with long bristles from wild boars
such that, when worn, these project out perpendicularly from the legs. This ornament is supposed to make the
wearer as durable, strong, and fast as a wild boar. That is why portions of a wild boar’s skin, complete with hair,
may also be tied or suspended from Aeta wrists or legs.
Aeta ornamentation is best exemplified by the comb, which is made from a section of bamboo, some 12.5 to 25
centimeters long and 5 to 7.5 centimeters wide. The teeth of the comb are meticulously carved. The outer convex
surface is profusely etched with varied geometric designs or decorated with curvilinear incisions. The spine of the
comb has attachments like plumes of long tail feathers of mountain cocks and other birds, or other attachments
like fibers and strings (Peralta 1977, 536- 38).
Literary Arts
Aeta literary arts include riddles, folk narratives, legends, and myths preserved through oral tradition.
Riddles recorded among the Aeta of northern Cagayan province usually come in two lines with assonantal rhyme
(Whittle and Lusted 1970):
 Muminuddukam
A ningngijjitam. (Pinnia)
(It wears a crown but isn’t a queen

It has scales but isn’t a fish. [Pineapple])
Assini nga pinasco ni Apu

Nga magismagel yu ulu na? (Simu)
(There is a cave with a bolo in it

Full of bones it isn’t a grave. [Mouth])
Ajjar tangapakking nga niuk

Awayya ipagalliuk. (Danum)
(When you cut it

It is mended without a scar. [Water])
According to an Aeta creation legend that is also known to the Mangyan, in the beginning, there was no earth—
only a vast ocean. A winged king named Manaul escaped from captivity under his bitter enemy Tubluck Lawi.
Unable to find a place to rest, King Manaul became angry with the sky and the ocean, which respectively retaliated
with ferocious winds and gigantic waves. But the light and agile Manaul evaded these. The fighting raged on for
years until all parties grew weary and gave in. Manaul then asked for light, and he was given thousands of fireflies.
He asked for counselors and was given all types of birds. But Manaul hungrily ate the chicks, then the small birds.
The owls and large birds, in turn, ate all the fireflies. Manaul felt insulted by this and, out of anger, he punished the
owls by replacing their eyes with bigger ones and commanding them to stay awake all night. Meanwhile, the king
of the air, angered by what Manaul did to his counselors, stamped his feet and vomited lightning, thunderbolts,
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and winds. King Captan of the Higuecinas, the genius among the people of the sea, also threw from the sky huge
rocks and stones to try to crush Manaul. He kept missing, and this was how land was formed (Eugenio 1982, 28-
29).
King Manaul escaping from captivity (Illustration by Harry

Monzon)
There are also myths about the moon and the sun among several Aeta groups. The Aeta of Aparri, Cagayan look
upon the moon as a deity and the companion of the stars. The Mamanwa also consider the moon sacred, so they
reduce bright fires while the moon is rising. During an eclipse, they make a lot of noise in order to frighten the
serpent that is believed to have swallowed the moon or the sun. To recover the moon during an eclipse, the Aeta
of Zambales also make a lot of noise.
According to the Mamanwa, there was only one kind of people in the beginning. Then lightning struck the earth
and set it on fire. Those who were singed black became the Mamanwa. On the other hand, the Aeta of Capiz,
Panay, believe that their ancestor, the eldest of three sons, was cursed because he laughed at his sleeping father.
The sun’s heat turned his skin black and his hair kinky. But for the Aeta of Bulacan, a large ape who stole fire from
the supreme being Kadai set the world on fire. The people panicked, and those who fled downstream became the
Malays while those who were singed became the Negrito (Maceda 1964, 114, 119-20).
Performing Arts
Some of the musical instruments found among the Aeta are the flute, the mouth harp made of a sliver of slit
bamboo, a traded bronze gong, and the bamboo violin (Kroeber 1919).
Instruments were documented in 1931 by Romualdez (1973) among the Aeta groups. The kullibaw of the Aeta is a
mouth harp made of bamboo. The bansik of the Aeta of Zambales is a four-hole flute made from mountain cane.
The kabungbung of the Aeta of Bataan is a guitar made of one closed node of bamboo, with part of the outer skin
slit loose to create two cords given tension by bridges. A hole is cut under the two cords for resonance. The
gurimbaw of the Aeta of Tayabas has a bow called busog, a bamboo joint called bias, a string called gaka made
from fibers of the lukmong vine, and a coconut resonator called kuhitan. The aydluing of the Mamanwa is a long
guitar with several strings, similar to the kudyapi of other Mindanao groups.
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Garvan (1964) found flutes, the bamboo guitar, and the mouth harp in southwestern Zambales; the long bamboo
drums in western Pampanga; the nose flute in Tayabas, Camarines, and Bataan; a bow-shaped instrument in
northern Camarines; and a bamboo lute in midwestern Camarines.
The Agta of Peñablanca, Cagayan Valley in northeastern Luzon play several instruments during weddings and
festivities. The gassa are flat bronze gongs that may be replaced by metal plates or basins. These are struck by
hand and usually accompanied by bamboo instruments like the patagong, a quill-shaped bamboo tube with a
length of 4.5 centimeters and a diameter of 5 to 7.5 centimeters at the node. At the center of the bamboo tube,
more than half of the bamboo is sliced away according to the vertical grain. The remaining section gradually
narrows at the tip, forming a quill shape. The tapered tip shaped like a tongue is struck against two patagong held
by the same player. It has a hole on its handle where the finger is placed to change pitch and timbre. The patagong
is played along with the tongtong, a long and slender stamping tube measuring 37.5 to 50 centimeters long and
5 to 7.5 centimeters in diameter. Its bottom is closed by a node and the top is left open. It is played by striking the
base on a hard surface, whether it be wood, stone, or cement flooring, to produce a hollow sound (Musical
Instruments 1986, 4-11).
Aeta man playing the kullibaw in Floridablanca,

Pampanga, 1990 (CCP Collections)
To express sadness or give comfort to someone, the Peñablanca Agta play the timawa, a 42.5 centimeters
musical bow made of a mature reed known as bikal. Its two strings come from a vine they call lanut. While the
player continuously strum the strings, one end of the bow is placed in his or her mouth. The mouth serves as a
resonator for the instrument. The player may also produce different pitches by changing the shape of the mouth or
by blowing through the timawa.
In Palanan, Isabela, near Peñablanca, the Agta or Dumagat have a huge hunting bow called the busog, which also
functions as a musical instrument. Its body is 1.5 meters long, made of a palm tree trunk called sakon, while the
string is from a vine called dappig. To play the busog, one end of the instrument is attached to a winnower laid
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upside down on the ground serving as resonator. A tin or porcelain plate is placed between the string and the bow
at the end attached to the winnower. The player holds the bow 15 centimeters from the anchored end, while the
thumb of the other hand strums the string rapidly.
Another Agta instrument is a transverse bamboo mouth flute known as the plawta. It measures about 30
centimeters , with a diameter of 1.9 centimeters . The end near a hole through which the player blows is a closed
node, while the other end is open. The plawta has six fingerholes and is usually played at night. The Pinatubo Aeta
have a guitar called gitaha, which is played as a drone to accompany all their dances.
The Aeta have many types of songs, which may be solemn, melodious, rapid, high, low, or soft, depending on the
sentiments expressed. The singing may be performed while standing or sitting, the singers in a circle facing one
another, while those who manipulate the gong or other instruments sit outside the circle (Noval-Morales and
Monan 1979).
A song recorded in 1925 in northern Luzon is the aliri, an improvisatory courtship song. Although many strophes of
this song have been fixed, the boy or girl may make up their own verses in answer to the verses of the other party.
Fixed verses may be sung while working or resting, or while walking through the forest or lying down at night
(Noval-Morales and Monan 1979, 115-16).
The Dumagat of Casiguran, Quezon perform the ablon, a song consisting of vowels sustained on a single pitch
while tapping the larynx. Their magablon is a chant calling upon the spirit Limatakdig to cure the sick. The sebkal
is a song that begins on a long, high note, then plunges in a tumbling contour down to monotonic chanting on a
low-pitched note. This is sung rhythmically in strongly accented triplets (Pfeiffer 1975).
The Agta of Peñablanca, Cagayan Valley have different songs. The aget (wild pig) is a hunting song sung solo. It
consists of four musical phrases, each ending in a pause. The flow of its melody is metrical (Musical Instruments
1986, 12):
 Umanga kitam didiya takawakanam

Nge kitam manggeyok ta aget
Ta isulit tam tatahiman tam
Ta wan kitam nga makaddimas nga Agta.
(Brother come,
Let’s hunt wild pig,
To barter for something good,
So that we will not be hungry.)
The kakanap is a question-and-answer game song sung by two Agta. Each musical phrase of the kakanap has six
syllables. The performers sing the phrases alternately, but the last phrase is sung together. The following is a
Christian kakanap (Musical Instruments 1986, 13):
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 Eeyoy, eeyoy
Anu oy, anu oy
Itta ay kofun ko
Had en o, had en o
Awem ay maita
Atsi o, atsi o
Te itta in teyak
Had en o, had en o
Apagam, apagam
On man tu, on man tu
Ayagam, ayagam
On mina, on mina
Petta kofun hapa
Anu kan ngagan na
Hesus kan Hesus kan
Onay o, onay o
Kofun tam hapala
Onay o, onay o.
(My friend, my friend,

What? What?
I have a new friend
Where? Where?
This one you can’t see.
Why? Why?
He is with me here.
Where? Where?
Try to look for him
Where then? Where then?
Now you call him.
I wish I could.
So you can be friends too.
What’s his name?
Jesus is his name
Is it? Is it?
Jesus is our friend.
O yes! O yes!)
The magwitwit is an Agta fishing song sung solo in metrical rhythm (Musical Instruments 1986, 14):
12/17/21, 1:00 PM Aeta
 Angay nge taka

alapan nga magwitwit tahayaw
Tahikaw posohang ku
nga magwitwit tayaw
Tatoy dimumemat nga
ibayku magpawitwit
Tahikaw pasohang ku
nga magwitwit tahayaw
(Brothers come
let’s go fishing
because someone came to ask a favor
that I catch fish.
I would want you to help
come help me catch fish,
because someone came to ask a favor
that I catch fish.)
An example of a lullaby is the adang, sung by the Agta of Palanan, Isabela. The soloist sings the adang
accompanied by the busog. Rendered in verse with eight syllables per melodic phrase, the song has an
arpeggiated melody in ascending and descending contour (Musical Instruments 1986, 12-26):
 Annin ne annin annin

bemahana a pala pala
Guduhunga ipagtatoy
unduhunga tema tema
Guduhunga tama tama
nungsuhunga palagi da
Lakahana pagi pagi
Wanahaney anni anin
Bamahana Nene, Nene, Neneheneng
Annine, anni, annin
bemahana lallakbayan
Bankahana nema nema
Cuduhunga ema ema
Nungsuhunga Nene,
Nene, Neneheneng.
(Oh! Oh! Oh!

My! the waves.
The child went boating
in the sea.
The shield traveled
because she was left alone
so she left
far away, oh! oh!
My! Nene, Nene, Neneng!
Oh! Oh! Oh!
My! she traveled
by boat alone
The child traveled o’er the big waves
Nene, Nene, Neneng!)
12/17/21, 1:00 PM Aeta
In the town of Malay, Aklan, the pamaeayi, which is the practice of obtaining parental approval for marriage, may
occasion the song “Kuti-Kuti sa Bandi” (Scrutinize the Dowry) (de la Cruz 1958):
 [Woman]: Kuti-kuti sa bandi,

[Man]: Kuti sa bararayan;
[Woman]: Bukon inyo baray dya,
Rugto inyo sa pangpang.
[Man]: Dingdingan it pilak,

Atupan it burawan;
Burawan, pinya-pinya,
Gamot it sampaliya.
Sampaliya, malunggay,
Gamot it gaway-gaway;
Gaway-gaway, marugtog,
Gamot it niyog-niyog.
Hurugi ko’t sambilog,
Tuman ko ikabusog.
(Woman: Scrutinize the dowry.

Man: Scrutinize the house.
Woman: This is not your
house! You live across the river.
Man: Its walls will be made of silver,

Its roof made of gold,
As golden as the pineapple,
And the root of the bitter melon.
Bitter melon, malunggay,

The root of gaway-gaway;
Beat the drums now
And let’s start the feast!
Drop me some coconuts,
For I am thirsty and hungry.)
The Aeta Magbukun, a small Aeta group in Limay, Bataan, have few surviving traditional vocal forms. The uso is a
melody structure which is also used in talinhagan, a song which expresses the last words and wishes of the dying,
and the kagun, a ritual to cure the sick. The amba is the song used in a marriage ceremony as the participants
circle around a fire. The ingalu is a lament for the dead. There is a song consisting of a shout from a parent, which
is used to call their children for an errand. The Aeta Magbukun also sing popular songs learned from lowlanders,
but translate these into their language.
12/17/21, 1:00 PM Aeta
Aeta wedding ceremony, 1904 (Mario Feir Filipiniana Library)
The uso has a free meter consisting of three short musical phrases. These musical phrases are sung repeatedly but
in different sequences. The uso may be sung on different occasions and could speak of a number of topics
(Prudente 1978, 165-75; translated by R. Matilac):
12/17/21, 1:00 PM Aeta
 Inan uning kulalu ung’

Ha ko ha ay takay laman ningbunlong
Hua ay iya makukokabukilan
tamaangwaking a gong ditan
Hako ay naluluwa ikon nako pon nanangan
Ha ay papatulo talon ti hua mata
Pa-rung hm hm
Pampanikibat na-an ay
Sumaukan laos ti kaya kong pakidungo
no lu ako ay
ako’y magpapa a ganbag song kahit ta
malantong
Kaya kong ipagpalit apunan un
Kungi kong diling masakit ti lalamunan ay
ibularlar ko alaw ay iniong ay atong
(The birds are chirping

I ate a foul-smelling bagoong
Hay
I am going to the mountains to get ubod,
which I will barter for my dinner.
I am hungry, I have not eaten
If only my throat weren’t aching
I will tell.
Oh, mother, oh, father,
will spank you
Hay
I think my body is exhausted.)
The following is an excerpt from an amba (Prudente 1978, 175-78):
 Ho wa ay kay ti ho ni ko panghuyutan
Ay yo hay yo
pan yambutan nining almungan
yabi ya bing ya saunghaay
kay ti ing panghuyutan
pam yam butan alimungan
ng u mi ya aw kulyawan
Ay-yay pangambutan alimungan
(This is where she caught up

Ay, hay.
My love caught up with me.
Late in the night did I go
to our meeting place.
Ay, hay, love caught up with me.
When the kulyawan cried
my love caught up with me.)
The ingalu or lament for the dead is sung during the wake (Prudente 1978, 179-80):
12/17/21, 1:00 PM Aeta
 Haqaroq
Aruq uy baking ka iq nang
Hanggaang ta tala as tasa ay
Aruy hinlunabing ing ka long au lo
Lin bak nuq ay ti a rap ti a anang diok.
(Aru,
Why mother?
She said,
You are pitiful.)
Songs chanted by Mamanwa spirit mediums are called tod’om or tud’om. These shamanic songs are performed
during the kahimonan (boar sacrifice ceremony). Chanters sing the messages of the spirits during the sacred
ceremony, which may last for more than one day. Through the tod’om, the boar as sacrifice animal is appeased
(Cembrano 1999, 6-7):
 Kasona ona ini

togo ya daw di’in ta iba’onga
Eh iling-alingi
kaba o donga bayang om
Ha nido’o adong dingdang ibongo adoli
day may idongo
pasagongo wayan om
Ka’agadang tatagang nga o da’o
Tatadi’i di’im
Na di ta nga dididi’i
maninga domobang di’i
Hi nadida nga kangi di’i
Eh iy di nga o’oh
Ada di ka busaw o
Patongo o kami
nga nag alima nga di toni bayo
Nami ni ngi di toni
(Do not worry that you

are placed on the sacrificial platform
as offering
at bagobayan om
Ha do not wish ill
or pronounce
a curse even if om
you await death until
each and all
of us have offered dances
to the spirits di’i
Do not be hurt that di’i
you will be killed o’oh
Do not hex or
get even with us
because no one
is to be blamed)
12/17/21, 1:00 PM Aeta
At some point during the long ceremony, another spirit enters the medium and warns the people against showing
any disrespect for the supreme spirit that they are privileged to hear (Cembrano 1999, 14-15):
 Wawa dadi danga ingidi’im

Omoyo san-o sagaya’on o dingi dingi
Bongo nado di banang
posan di kasan bobayang nga’on
Tabangga nga dowa nga’om.
Ha iba nga ibato di tana
a gingi ingi ingi nga
Linongta tanga tanga
ingi ingi dingim
Ha nayon ngo ngo

nga di na inda
nango di dingin
Na nga’o nga’o da dina
ona o pona din donga ongo diga o
(This is the first time

my voice dingi dingi
is recorded, that
my presence at bagobayan
is being recorded.
I wish to say that
this voice should not
be made fun of
ingi ingi dingim.
What I have
pronounced are the
words dingin
of the highest
of all the spirits.)
Dancing is a frequent pastime among all Aeta groups. A beautiful moonlit night may be enough reason for
dancing, with the women forming a ring and the men a larger ring enclosing the female dancers. While moving
around in opposite directions, both men and women dance rhythmically to the sound of their musical instruments.
Dances of the Aeta may be categorized into two types: festive dancing and ceremonial dancing. Festive dancing
may be held when meeting friends, after a good hunt, or when there is a group feeling of happiness. This includes
the binabayani of the Pinatubo Aeta, the borokil of the Agta, and the war dances of the Iriga Aeta. Ceremonial
dancing, almost always held during the full moon, lasts until the wee hours of the night.
The Abiyan of Camarines Norte have two dances for the dead: the hayang and sayang, both ring dances
performed by the entire community around a bonfire near the grave during the katapusan, a date equivalent to
the 40th day after a Christian burial (Obusan 1991).
The anituan (curing séance) among the Aeta of Pampanga, Bataan, Zambales, and Isabela is a ritual that has
similar versions among the different Aeta groups. The anituan is a dramatic performance in which the medium, in
a trance, also casts a hypnotic spell over the audience. Later, a dialogue ensues between the audience and the
“captured” spirit causing the disease.
12/17/21, 1:00 PM Aeta
The Mamanwa binaylan is a nocturnal shamanic ritual held at the house of the baylan (shaman), also called
binulusan or tambajon during the full moon. The baylan chants the tod’om, calling on the abyan (spirit world) as
the participants chew betel nuts. The baylan, who is usually male, calls on ancestral spirits to guide the people. He
then dances in a trance while singing the tod’om until the supreme god Magbabaya (or Tahaw) comes to deliver
messages through the sacred songs. In the absence of Magbabaya, another spirit comes to speak about some
impending sickness, calamity, or pestilence. The baylan implores the spirits to spare the community. When the
spirits promise to protect the community, the baylan utters the affirmation “Kay hendadawod Malaaser De” (The
spirits will protect them as it had been protecting the village before). The baylan starts dancing with the kudlong
(guitar) and gimbar (drum). The people slaughter a white pig as offering to Magbabaya, and its blood is sprinkled
on the baylan’s oyagdok (altar). The pig is then roasted and shared by the people, who continuously sing and
dance until dawn (Tomaquin 2013, 21-23).
The Aeta have many mimetic dances imitating various activities. In the potato dance, which has survived among
the Aeta of Zambales, the performers pretend to be stealing potatoes from a patch. The Aeta bee dance, called
pinahug among the Agta of Camarines and pinapanilan among the Aeta of Zambales, is a comic dance about
overzealous honey gatherers who get stung by bees. Its steps include frenzied leaps.
Other Aeta mimetic dances are the duel dance with bolo, bows, and arrows; the torture dance where an imaginary
captive is tied to a tree while a group of warrior dancers move slowly and rhythmically around the victim, whom
they eventually “pierce” with spears; and the lovers’ dance, where the man encircles the woman who pays no
attention to him, even dancing away from him (Orosa-Goquingco 1980).
Monkey dance by an Aeta of Masikap Village, Botolan,

Zambales, 1978 (The Dances of the Emerald Isles
by Leonor Orosa-Goquingco, Ben-Lor Publishers, Inc.,
1980)
The talek of the Aeta of Pampanga, Bataan, and Zambales, mimics animals in their natural environment.
Variations of the talek are the talek bake (monkey), talek lango (fly), talek barak (monitor lizard), and talek paro
(shrimp). The talek barak imitates two lizards slithering over bamboo poles, trellises and fences, skillfully clinging
to trees and rocks, and finally resting after a day’s work.
12/17/21, 1:00 PM Aeta
Aeta music, dance, drama, and visual arts are sometimes combined during festivals, such as the Dumagat folk
festival in Norzagaray, Bulacan. Here, the men wear colorful woven loincloths and strips of cloth tied around their
arms for ornaments, and the women wear loose blouses, colorful wraparound skirts, and small pieces of wood
and flowers for earrings. The festival starts with a subkal, a chanted song with no definite lyrics and which
depends on spontaneous emotions. The melody, called pandango, is unchanged throughout the song and is
accompanied by a native guitar in 3/4 time signature. After the pandango, arnis-arnisan, a war dance from the
ancient form of arnis or self-defense, is performed. Using rattan rods measuring 60 centimeters, warriors move
slowly at first. Then as the music builds up, movements, too, become faster. The audience cheers the warriors who
have delivered deadly blows or who have successfully blocked or evaded the blows of their opponents.
La India Elegante y El Negrito Amante (The Elegant Native Woman and Her Aeta Suitor), first staged in 1860, is
a sainete or comic one-act play in verse by Francisco Baltazar. Its protagonist is an Aeta named Capitan Toming
who woos his love interest, Menangge, by dressing up in cosmopolitan clothes and other costumes but his native
G-string. But in the end, he stands up for his ethnic origin and chides Menangge for judging a person by the color
of his skin rather than his character. Toming’s candor enlightens Menangge and endears the Aeta to her (Flores
and Enriquez 1950; Lumbera 1969, 381).
Media Arts
Travelogues, ethnographic films, educational videos, documentaries, and a few feature films about the Aeta have
already been produced.
I-Witness, produced by GMA Network, featured the Batak in an episode by Mariz Umali titled Batak: Ang
Naglalahong Tribo (Batak: The Vanishing Tribe), 2013. The episode focused on the high mortality rate among
Batak children. While there have been accounts of Batak children who tie ropes around their bellies to numb
pangs of hunger, Batak boys in one village still went hunting for wild pigs and flying squirrels. The forests, they
believed, would still sustain them (GMA Network 2013).
The documentary Batak: Ancient Spirits, Modern World, 2000, produced by Films for the Humanities & Sciences,
follows the journey of a sociocultural anthropologist as he immerses himself in the life of the Batak of Palawan.
The documentary shows how the Batak struggle to preserve cultural traditions and identity while adjusting to the
market economy and other encroachments of the modern world (Dodds 2000). Palawan: Our Struggle for
Nature and Culture, 2012, is directed and produced by Dario Novellino and Luigi Falorni, and co-directed by
Artiso Mandawa under Aldaw Network. It is a documentary that uses Batak myth and folklore to tackle the
damage wrought by big mining companies in Palawan (Aldaw Network 2012).
A Glimpse of the Mamanwa Peoples is an educational video directed by Rino Bersalona and produced by PAFID
Mindanao in cooperation with Fundacion Desorollo Sostenido and Ministerio De Asuntos Exteriores. A Mamanwa
girl narrates the need for cultural revival and land security in Mindanao. To galvanize unity among the Mamanwa,
her village conducts the kahimonan ritual for the first time in 30 years (“Glimpse” 2008). Lake Mainit, 2010, is a
travelogue by Ellen Red produced for Inside Mindanao. It illustrates the importance of the lake as a biodiversity
area and as food source for the Mamanwa and other settlers (Red 2010). Viewfinder, on the other hand, produced
by Al Jazeera for cable television, presented The March to Philippine Progress in the Philippines, 2014, directed
by Ditsi Carolino. It tackled the protest of 120 Dumagat against a government development plan that would
destroy fertile lands and fisheries and displace 3,000 families.
Baluga, 1969, is a film produced by VP Pictures based on the komiks story of the same title by Pablo S. Gomez.
Directed by Tony Cayado, the film stars Rosemarie Sonora as Digna, the dark and kinky-haired Baluga, opposite
Pepito Rodriguez as Oscar, the lowlander who loves her unconditionally (Video 48 2008).
12/17/21, 1:00 PM Aeta
Scene from Brillante Mendoza’s Manoro, 2006 (Center for Kapampangan Studies)
Manoro (The Teacher), 2006, is a featurized documentary about an educated Aeta girl who embarks on giving
literacy training to Aeta elders so that they may participate in the 2004 presidential elections. Directed by
Brillante Mendoza and produced with support from Holy Angel University’s Center for Kapampangan Studies, the
film won the CinemAvvenir Award at the 2006 Torino Film Festival and the Best Film in the 2006 Cinemanila
International Film Festival. Sa Ilalim ng Tulay (Under the Bridge), 2011, is a feature film written and directed by
Earl Bontuyan for Cinema One Originals. The film dramatizes the tragic and comic experiences of an Aeta family
that migrated to Metro Manila (Baluyut 2012; Manoro 2014; Philippine Entertainment Portal 2011).
 Written by Rosalie S. Matilac, with notes from E. Arsenio Manuel (1994) / Updated by Rosalie S. Matilac
(2018)
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Tags: Aeta Ati Ita Philippine Negrito groups Alta Atta Ayta
This article is from the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art Digital Edition.
Title: Aeta
Author/s: Rosalie S. Matilac, with notes from E. Arsenio Manuel (1994) / Updated by Rosalie S. Matilac (2018)
URL:
Publication Date: November 18, 2020
Access Date: December 17, 2021
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12/17/21, 1:00 PM Aeta

Cultural Center of the Philippines

Depiction of the Negritos, circa 1590 (Boxer Codex, The

Social Organization and Customs

Batak mother and her two

Religious Beliefs and Practices

Mamanwa faith healer (Photo by Jimmy A.

Architecture and Community Planning

Aeta hut in Morong, Bataan, 2017 (Nico Anastacio)

roof and walls.

Mamanwa man carrying tampiki or rattan

(It wears a crown but isn’t a queen

Assini nga pinasco ni Apu

(There is a cave with a bolo in it

Ajjar tangapakking nga niuk

(When you cut it

King Manaul escaping from captivity (Illustration by Harry

Aeta man playing the kullibaw in Floridablanca,

 Umanga kitam didiya takawakanam

(My friend, my friend,

 Angay nge taka

 Annin ne annin annin

(Oh! Oh! Oh!

 [Woman]: Kuti-kuti sa bandi,

[Man]: Dingdingan it pilak,

(Woman: Scrutinize the dowry.

Man: Its walls will be made of silver,

Bitter melon, malunggay,

Aeta wedding ceremony, 1904 (Mario Feir Filipiniana Library)

 Inan uning kulalu ung’

(The birds are chirping

The following is an excerpt from an amba (Prudente 1978, 175-78):

(This is where she caught up

 Kasona ona ini

(Do not worry that you

 Wawa dadi danga ingidi’im

Ha nayon ngo ngo

(This is the first time

Monkey dance by an Aeta of Masikap Village, Botolan,

Bellwood, Peter. 1978. Man’s Conquest of the Pacific. Auckland: Collins.

Espada, Dennis. 2003. “Dumagats: A People’s Struggle to be Free.”Bulatlat 3 (24).

GMFxStudio. 2013. “Rise Dumagat,” YouTube video, 21 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw1fqMpJX-

Krieger, Herbert W. 1942. Peoples of the Philippines. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.

Lumbera, Bienvenido. 1969. “Consolidation of Tradition in Nineteenth-Century Tagalog Poetry.”Philippine Studies

NCCP-PACT. 1988. Sandugo. Manila: National Council of Churches in the Philippines.

Panizo, Alfredo. 1967. “The Negritos or Aetas.”Unitas 40 (March): 66-101.

Philippine Panorama. 1973. 14 January, p. 21.

Philippine Touring Topics. 1935. 2 February, p. 10.

Trinidad, Ariel. 1992. Interview by R. Matilac. September.

Worcester, Dean. 1898. The Philippines. New York: Macmillan.

Copyright © 2020 by Cultural Center of the Philippines

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